MFCU Football Jamboree Tonight

Quite a few area high school football coaches will be rather defensive Friday night.

Not that some aren’t already unhappy with the late schedule, but several coaches said their big focus will be on defense during the Marine Federal Credit Union Football Jamboree at Northside High.

“I want to see how our defense is going to be,” Southwest coach Charlie Dempsey said. “I want to see how aggressive we will be and how we fly to the football. The past two years we haven’t been quite where we want to be on defense, but hopefully we get back to being tough and physical.”

Many other area coaches shared Dempsey’s belief that defense will be the main emphasis in the fourth annual MFCU Football Jamboree.

The 16-team event kicks off at 5:30 p.m. and is expected to conclude around 11:15 p.m.

The reason for the defensive focus? Many coaches feel their defenses need to improve from last year.

“I want to see how we play pass defense because we weren’t very good last year in that,” Richlands coach Gene Boley said. “I think our defense has gotten a lot better.”

East Duplin perhaps has the area’s strongest returning defense as the Panthers have nine defenders coming back from last year’s team that advanced to the NCHSAA 2-AA East Regional final.

But coach Battle Holley has repeatedly said it’s more like East Duplin had to replace five starters since the Panthers have shuffled several players around.

“Friday we will play a lot of guys to see some people at some spots,” he said. “We want to build some depth and in order to do that they have to play.”

Dixon coach Chris Morris, meanwhile, wants to see his linebackers in action.

“I’m eager to see the offensive line and the linebackers,” he said. “Both places we feel like we have capable kids at. I feel we have pretty good linebackers.”

And White Oak coach Eric Leary feels he has “kids trying to run to the football” on defense.

“There’s not been a lot of ‘What do I do on this play?’” he said. “I think the kids know what we are trying to run. Obviously there won’t be execution on every play, but the film will give us an idea of where we need to go.”

Then there’s Lejeune, which seems to be starting from scratch after the Devilpups won one game the last three years.

“We are working to see where we are,” assistant coach David Stahl said. “We have a lot of work to do on the line because we don’t have big guys. I know our running backs and linebackers are good.”

Swansboro coach Tim Laspada was one of few coaches that highlighted the offense as a focal point. He said he’s interested in seeing senior quarterback Thomas Reynolds continue his leadership and wants to see how the Pirates respond to his influence.

“Thomas does a good job getting the guys in the right direction,” Laspada said. “We also want to see our offensive line. Physically, we will see where we are at.”

Jacksonville coach Beau Williams is also in the same boat in that he wants to further evaluate his quarterback situation after Jaicari Boone graduated.

“Obviously we are breaking in a new quarterback on offense so we want to make sure he’s doing everything right,” Williams said. “Of course, we can always get better at everything.”

Northside coach Kendrick Pollock agreed.

“We can improve all the way around,” he said. “The offensive line, the running backs, the receivers, the quarterback, the defense and the coaches need to improve.”

And what about Croatan coach David Perry?

“If we can go off the kids’ effort and knowledge, we would be way ahead of schedule,” he said. “But when you throw in the physicality and athleticism … we have to see if we have that stuff.”

Chris Miller can be contacted via email at chris.miller@jdnews.com or by calling 910-219-8472.